Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• farid ganji ¹
• sardar mohamadi ²

¹ PhD in Sports Management, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran

² Professor, Department of Physical Education, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran

Abstract

Abstract
The purpose of this study was to analyze the life experience of professional athletes in the social network of Instagram. The research method was qualitative (phenomenology). The population of the present study was professional athletes who had more than two years of membership in the Instagram social network. The theorical sampling was done and the data were collected until the researcher arrived at theoretical saturation (7 + 2). Semi-structured interview was used to collect data. Also, for analyzing the data obtained from the interview, thematic analysis was used. Finally, the main themes followed the integration, integration, and deletion of other themes, and the researcher(Proper techniques for the correct decision) chose themes that benefit from more fruitful research results. The findings included three main themes: liking and commenting, fooling, gaining support. To analyze the data obtained from the interview, the software was used to categorize and categorize the qualitative data of the NVIVO version 10.

Keywords

• "social networks"
• "Instagram"
• "theme analysis"
• "lived experience"